The ‘Global Warming Rap’ secures students from Townsville a spot as finalists at this years Panasonic Kids Witness News global awards
Townsville kids are riding a winning wave of success with the announcement that Mundingburra State School has been selected as a finalist in the Panasonic Kid Witness News Global Awards to be held in Tokyo next month.
This is only the second time a school from Australia has been selected as a global finalist. Last year, in an Australian KWN first, primary-aged students from Mooloolaba State School became the first Australian school to make it to the Global Awards.
“It’s great to see young Queensland students being recognised on both a national and international stage for their creativity and commitment. It goes to show any school in any Australian town, regardless of its size or location, can prove themselves in the international league by simply having a good idea, lots of creativity, dedication and ambition”.
Michael Ludwig, Regional Director North Queensland Region, Department of Education and Training
Year seven students, Rick Chew and Jacob Thompson have been chosen to represent Mundingburra State School, accompanied by their class teacher and KWN coordinator Erick Blechen. The students will join the other KWN finalists on a cultural experience tour of Tokyo leading up to the gala Award Ceremony which will take place on July 27.
“Everyone from our school is immensely impressed by the efforts of the year seven students. Being recognised as a finalist school at the KWN Global Awards is testament to the enthusiasm and ability of the students. Their success has the school spirit flying high, with younger students aspiring to be part of the KWN program and showing a renewed eagerness to learn in the classroom.”
Erick Blechen, Teacher & KWN coordinator, Mundingburra State School
The school’s winning KWN short film entry – entitled “The Global Warming Rap” – is a five-minute video montage that shows three penguins delivering an important message on our eco footprint and the survival of earth through rap and animation. Their call to action entry was recognised for its technical excellence, taking home two National Spotlight Awards in the Special FX and Editing categories.
The Global Warming Rap
“To have an Australian school advance to the Global Awards for the second year in a row demonstrates the impressive standard of the Australian KWN short video program. Mundingburra State School’s film stands as a highly commendable example of the true purpose behind the KWN program – teamwork, perseverance and enthusiasm produces incredible results. We wish the team all the very best and eagerly await the global results.”
Steve Rust, Managing Director, Panasonic Australia
Public Voting Online
For the very first time, the general public will be able to lodge their web vote for the best video.
The concept of online voting was launched this year as part of KWN’s outreach mission to make the KWN Global Contest accessible to the global community. Voters must first view all six finalist entries before they can lodge their vote for the best video. Voting will be open from the 21st of June through to the 20th of July (GMT) with the results announced at the KWN Global 2010 Awards Ceremony as well as released on the KWN Global site.
The 2010 Australian KWN video competition kicked off in March with 63 primary and secondary schools from across the country taking part. The program, which has been running in Australia since 2004, requires students to work together to define a story, write a script, film and edit their submission using equipment provided to the school by Panasonic.